This invention relates to an aligning apparatus for handling longitudinal articles, particularly chocolate bars, and is of the type which has an input track on which articles are advanced to a turntable in consecutive rows which are oriented transversely to the conveying direction and in which the articles are approximately aligned. Above the turntable there is supported a stationary guide rail which when viewed longitudinally, has an essentially spiral course and which, as the turntable rotates, pushes the articles in the direction of the edge of the turntable and aligns them serially to form a single file. The apparatus further has an outlet track onto which the articles are transferred as they are pushed over the edge of the turntable by the guide rail.
Apparatus of the above-outlined type are known. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,373 there is disclosed an apparatus wherein above a turntable there are provided a plurality of guide rails which have a continuous curvature and whose guide faces are obliquely oriented to the plane of the turntable. Further, in Swiss Pat. No. 568,908 to which corresponds U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,571 there is disclosed an apparatus which has a single guide rail composed of straight length portions between which obtuse kink points are provided.
The above-outlined machines are particularly adapted for integration in a production line wherein elongated articles are delivered to the input track of the apparatus in an entirely random orientation. More recently, production lines have been developed which deliver elongated articles, such as chocolate bars, to the input track of the aligning apparatus in consecutive rows which are approximately aligned and which are oriented transversely to the conveying direction. It has been found in practice that in such an arrangement the known apparatus outlined above are often not capable of aligning and conveying fast enough the articles fed to the turntable on the input track.